The quest for Virginia baseball’s eighth College World Series appearance and second national title began today when the team took on Jacksonville State in the Hattiesburg Regional. But, the Cavaliers (36-22, 14-16 ACC) were not ready for the high-stakes atmosphere and were taken advantage of by the Gamecocks (47-13, 23-7 CUSA) in a 15-7 defeat.
Early on, Virginia faced an incredible challenge offensively with senior pitcher Beau Bryans on the mound. Bryans’ left-handed sidearm release flustered the Cavalier bats, allowing just one hit in the first time through the order while striking out four batters. Bryans would go on to throw four scoreless frames to start his outing.
On the other side, Jacksonville State found its stride early when junior infielder Cooper Blauser launched a two-run blast over the center-field wall in the second inning. Sophomore pitcher Henry Zatkowski battled through a lot of long at-bats early in the game, as his control was not up to par compared to his previous outings.
The Cavaliers did not help themselves either, blowing some key scoring opportunities early on. After getting runners on the corners with just one out in the third inning, the next two batters popped out and grounded out, failing to get a run across. The following inning Virginia had two runners on with a single out, but followed it up with a strikeout and a groundout that again left them scoreless.
The Gamecocks kept their foot on the gas, loading the bases before Zatkowski could generate an out in the third inning. A sacrifice fly from junior catcher Grayson Ashe upped the lead to three runs. Then, a bunt by senior infielder Brady Thomas led to an error and a fourth run scoring.
Virginia looked utterly unprepared for the bunt on defense. Jacksonville State went with a bunt three times in the third inning, generating two errors and multiple baserunners. They also exploited long deliveries to the plate, getting big jumps and stealing bases to extend innings. While the pressure of the NCAA Tournament is extreme, Coach Chris Pollard really struggled to rein the team in and guide his players back towards a cleaner brand of baseball.
The fourth inning was even worse for the Cavaliers. Zatkowski struggled to throw any strikes, allowing the Gamecocks to repeatedly get on base. Jacksonville State added on five more runs, putting the game further out of sight as they went up nine. In all, Zatkowski went just 4.1 innings and never controlled the game. Even worse, the bullpen failed to back him up later in the game.
Even once this lead was built, the game was not over just yet. A single into left field by junior infielder Joe Tiroly and a sacrifice fly from junior catcher Jake Weatherspoon cut the gap back to seven in the fifth inning, but Virginia still stranded the bases loaded, which left a comeback at “what if” status. A run scored by the Gamecocks in the sixth furthered the damage and erased much of the momentum gained by the Cavaliers.
Consecutive doubles to start the sixth inning from freshman infielder RJ Holmes and junior outfielder AJ Gracia proved promising for Virginia and helped the Cavaliers get a run back. Even more promising, Tiroly hit a moonshot to left field to make the score 10-5 entering the seventh inning. Yet, a lot of the momentum gained was taken away in a disastrous frame that saw Pollard ejected arguing a pitch-clock violation, graduate pitcher Lucas Hartman throw eight consecutive balls to open the frame and Jacksonville State scored three more runs off of Cavalier miscues and poor pitching.
From there, all hope of a comeback was sapped for Virginia and it showed in the lack of offensive fight. The Cavaliers failed to significantly cut into the deficit, hanging two runs but then giving up two right back, dooming them to a defeat at the hands of the Gamecocks.
This poor level of pitching and defense is simply not good enough to beat anyone in the NCAA Tournament. With an elimination game looming Saturday., both facets will have to improve alongside a good offensive effort for Virginia to keep its national championship hopes alive.
Having miserably failed their first trial of the tournament, the Cavaliers now turn their attention to Southern Miss, the No. 9 seed nationally, who just lost in a shocking upset to Little Rock. If they lose this next game, Virginia’s time in the NCAA Tournament will come to an end much earlier than predicted. The projected starting pitcher for the elimination game is freshman John Paone, with first pitch being scheduled for 2 p.m.
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